22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. In fact, this passage indicates that Jesus was the only child of Mary, because if he did have natural brothers or sisters, they would have provided for her. One may meditate on the Passion of Christ by reflecting on his Seven Words on the Cross or by a devotion known as The Way of the Cross. As if to emphasize his loneliness, Mark (15:40) even has his loved ones "looking on from afar." Even in the moments of agony and intense spiritual warfare, Jesus was concerned with what lay ahead for those who would mourn Him, and He did not forget this very practical detail. The Gospel of Life, the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, Times Books, New York, March 25, 1995. Again, prophecies written hundreds of years before were fulfilled: Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. 6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. It was unusual for a man to be led to the place of crucifixion, for usually a man condemned was forced through much resistance to the place of crucifixion. The patibulum, with Jesus nailed to it, was then lifted and slotted into the central vertical part of the cross. The Lord was probably taken back into the Roman barracks, and a squad of four soldiers would have been assigned to crucify Him. Jesus was obedient to His Father to the end, and his final word before his death on the Cross was a prayer to His Father. Like George Wilson, will you leave it on the table? He thirsts for the love of his Father, who has left him unaided during this dreadful hour when He must fulfill his mission all alone. But when you think about it, we are the real ones that sent Jesus to the cross -- our sins, our corruption, our weakness and pettiness. But does this not have to happen? When the Israelites were slaves to Pharaoh and Egypt, the means of deliverance was the blood of a pure and perfect lamb whose blood was to be shed and placed in a basin at the bottom of the door. Wilson was arrested, brought to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. There on the cross, Jesus was loaded down with the sin of the world upon Him. It was not so with Jesus; again, he was fulfilling Scripture: “He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). The crossbeam, the patibulum, was then tied to His shoulders, and Matthew wrote: “They led Him away to crucify Him” (Matthew 27:31). The traditional order of the sayings is: 1. What an invitation! Typically, a man to be crucified was paraded by the longest route to a place outside the city walls, a site seen by most people going in and out of the city gate. Mark tells us that the bitter drink was Myrrh (Mark 15:23), a mild narcotic. We must all make our choice: to continue in sin or to believe and place our trust in the substitutionary work of Christ for us and as us. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." 24"Let's not tear it," they said to one another. The Jewish elders were incensed by this and tried to get the sign changed to say that Jesus had said that He was the King of the Jews. Translated as it is finished in many translations in English, this is not a shout of weariness, but a great victory. The Father looked away from the Son due to Jesus carrying your sin and mine upon Himself. And He can return: "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (16:28). (John 19:30). "For there is one God. This division of garments and the casting of lots for Christ's seamless garment were just as David had prophesied hundreds of years before (Psalm 22:18). A second reason for Gordon's Calvary being a possible place was because the shape of the location looks like a skull. 15My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Alba House, Staten Island, New York, 1989. 13Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me. No wonder Christ shouted. Here’s my humble contribution to the church community, to help save time with all the Holy Week preparations. The crossbeam, the. The innocent Lamb of God bore in His body our sin and did away with it, “having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13b-14). It is worth noting that the anointed priest of Israel had to completely burn up the sin offering of Israel, i.e., the sacrificial burnt offering, outside the camp (Leviticus 4:21). Josephus, the historian of the time, writes about the high priests clothing: “Now, this vesture was not composed of two pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and the sides, but it was one long vestment so woven as to have an aperture for the neck.”[2] Christ, our High Priest, wore the undergarment to the place of atonement. "Behold I make all things new" Scripture further tells us that God is too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13). Allowing the victim to breathe in this way would prolong death. By Wayne Reynolds, Pastor The lesson this month is a word of victory, as declared in John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." This free study is one of 42 studies on the book of John. It is now a fait accomplit. (John 19:26-27). They did not realize that their eternal destiny hung in the balance, i.e., that everything depended upon this act of selfless love. 6. "Now from the sixth hour there occurred darkness over all the land until the ninth hour" (Matthew 27:45). The perplexed President turned to the United States Supreme Court to decide the case. John continues in 19:33-34: "But when they came to Jesus and saw he was already dead, they did not break his legs," recalling the instruction in Exodus 12:46 concerning the Passover Lamb. As Jesus felt that the time had come, the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) tell us that Jesus shouted out loudly, but they do not tell us what He shouted. One is that there was a legend that Adam's skull was buried there. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). He became the sin-bearer for the whole human race. They played a game as if it did not matter. 19You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. I would remind you that salvation is bestowed to the believer as a gift, not by any works of righteousness we have done (Titus 3:5, Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus would have heard their insults. They were playing games and unconcerned about His suffering. We know that He recited part of it. Some believe that Christ spoke the whole psalm while on the cross. 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. It is a poignant thought that, at the very same time of Jesus' death, several hundred yards away in the Temple area, the Passover lambs were being slaughtered all around Jerusalem for Israelites to eat the Passover that evening. John is the only Evangelist to record Our Lord's mother Mary at the Cross. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." It also means to pay in full, as in a tax or tribute. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, When a man's debt was paid, it was tetelestai. It was common for those crucified to be entirely nude to increase the shame, but it is possible that Jewish sensibilities allowed a loincloth. He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!" What will you do with the full pardon offered to you by the Chief Justice—the God of the Universe?[5]. Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother." The early church fathers felt that Isaac's carrying the wood on which he would be sacrificed by his father, Abraham (Genesis 22:6), was symbolic of Jesus' carrying His cross. The good son that He is, Jesus is concerned about looking after his mother. 21The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." Whatever you do with the matter of Christ's sacrifice, know that this does require a response. The fifth word of Jesus is His only human expression of His physical suffering. 41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. Condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, he carried his Cross up the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to Calvary, was nailed to the cross, and hung between two common criminals. John 19:26–27: Woman, behold your son. By his wounds you have been healed." John 19:28 ESV / 15 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. I want to end this story with a thought about what happened as the soldiers cast lots for Christ's clothes. What sorrow must fill Mary's heart! Prayer: Father, thank You for Your great love and mercy, which You revealed in Christ Jesus and His great sacrifice for me. All the words of Christ’s were powerful words of life although His seven last sayings as He died for us are worth our reflection. 18They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing (Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 12-18). This article examines Jesus’s seven sayings or ‘Words’ from the Cross. In the year 1829, a Philadelphia man named George Wilson robbed the U.S. Mail Service, killing someone in the process. Christ's purpose in coming was to die on the cross in place of guilty humanity. This darkness was not due to an eclipse because an eclipse cannot last longer than seven and a half minutes; whereas, this darkness lasted for three hours. We can presume that he died at some point. Why do you think Jesus spat it out? And then she had to watch him being nailed to the Cross. He became the sin-bearer for the whole human race. 16Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet (Psalm 22:7-8; 12-13; 16). 3 St. Alphonsus Liguori. Pilate responded to them, saying. “You will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Now, let us consider the timing of His death. The wounds inflicted upon him in the scourging, the crowning with thorns, losing blood on the three-hour walk through the city of Jerusalem on the Via Dolorosa to Golgotha, and the nailing upon the cross are now taking their toll. So it is with the words of Jesus on the cross. This darkness was not due to an eclipse because an eclipse cannot last longer than seven and a half minutes; whereas, this darkness lasted for three hours. Some friends intervened on his behalf and were finally able to obtain a pardon for him from President Andrew Jackson. First Peter 2:24. (Luke 23:46). Jesus completely lives the human experience as we do, and by doing so, frees us from the clutches of sin. But is Jesus not also thinking of his Apostles and companions who have deserted him, to Peter who has denied him three times, to the fickle crowd who only days before praised him on his entrance to Jerusalem, and then days later demanded his crucifixion? Jesus who came to save us is crucified, and He realizes the horror of what is happening and what He now is enduring. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). 6th Saying: "It is finished!" Now it is not just the religious leaders or the soldiers that mock Jesus, but even one of the criminals, a downward progression of mockery. With this last saying, Jesus gave up His spirit. This passage implies there is more than just physical thirst. The Lord was probably taken back into the Roman barracks, and a squad of four soldiers would have been assigned to crucify Him. Both Gospels related that it was in the ninth hour, after 3 hours of darkness, that he cried out this fourth word. Does this not have to occur if Jesus is to save us? This statement was also prophesied by King David, saying, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth" (Psalm 22:15). He was in the center as if He were the worst. 2 Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. So, George Wilson was executed, although his pardon lay on the sheriff's desk. The seven sayings form part of a Christian meditation that is often used during Lent, Holy Week and Good Friday. The life of the Lord Jesus causes a division in humanity: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). Jesus of Nazareth is looking down from the cross just after he was crucified between two criminals. You might think they’re simply the normal responses of a dying man, and if you thought that, you would be wrong. Scripture further tells us that God is too pure to look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13). It was the supreme sacrifice that secured our salvation. So this is what the soldiers did. The innocent Lamb was slain for our sins, so that we might be forgiven. He forgives the paralytic at Capernaum (Mark 2:3-12), the sinful woman who anointed him in the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:37-48), and the adulteress caught in the act and about to be stoned (John 8:1-11). Save yourself and us!" However, Jesus had committed no crime. If you have never reached out to the God of all grace, then cry out to Him today for the same gift of God. John's account does not mention this, but Matthew records unusual darkness that came over the Earth for three hours, "Now from the sixth hour there occurred darkness over all the land until the ninth hour" (Matthew 27:45). Four Courts Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2001. The piercing of Jesus' side prefigures the Sacraments of Eucharist (blood) and Baptism (water), as well as the beginning of the Church. (Mark 15:34). There is evidence for both as well as suggestions as to why the place was so named. One of the two robbers crucified with Him joined in the scorning while the other was repentant: The life of the Lord Jesus causes a division in humanity: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). The Hour of Jesus: The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. 33They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). “They led Him away to crucify Him” (Matthew 27:31). 19Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. George Wilson must be hanged. As Jesus hung on the Cross, he uttered seven last words of great meaning to those who contemplate his Passion and Death. As the weight of the body hung on the nails, the pain would have been unbearable with the wrists putting pressure on the median nerves. 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